Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life

Freedom is the greatest value in the modern Western world. The secular model of freedom is basically freedom from something. It says, “I am only free when there’s nothing in my way.”
When people come to Christianity, they would like inspiration and help, but they don’t want to give up their freedom. Very often, Christians say to them, “You must give it up. God has a will,” but the Bible doesn’t come at it like that at all. The Bible instead is dripping with the language of freedom.
So let’s look at what this text shows us about 1) the failure of secular freedom, and 2) the nature of real Christian freedom.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 5, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 5:5-18.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

How could the idea that you’re saved by grace alone be any incentive to live a good life?
Paul says the gospel of salvation through free grace, not works, is actually a greater incentive to a life of honesty, sacrifice, and love than anything else. He’s talking about how we change the human heart, and he says the motivation behind what we do is all-important.
Paul tells us 1) what the new motivation is, and 2) how the new motivation works.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 29, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 5:5-12.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Most people think the job of religion is to call people into a life of morality. But Paul says that’s not what Christianity is at all.
Gospel transformation is completely different than moral reformation. In Galatians 5, Paul says there are two different reasons you could obey God—and the reason for your obedience makes all the difference in the world.
Paul tells us 1) there is a wrong reason for moral obedience, and it enslaves us, and 2) there is a whole other engine for obedience, and it is hope and love.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 22, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 5:1-12.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

What’s the purpose of writing a letter to somebody? The purpose is to get something across. So when we read the Bible, we need to have the intellectual integrity to treat it the way we’d want our own communications treated.
Galatians 4 is a text that many find difficult to read and interpret. What is Paul saying? What does he mean? But if we understand the context, it really is very simple in the end.
If we look at Galatians 4, we’ll see 1) he talks about two sons, 2) then he talks about two covenants, and 3) then he gives two applications.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 15, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 4:21-31.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The difference between a sword and a scalpel at first sight doesn’t seem that great. But you can either cut in order to defeat or in order to heal.
The book of Galatians is counseling, and for Paul, truth is a scalpel. He’s not using truth to bludgeon, but to do surgery. And the reason this truth changed other people’s lives was because Paul brought the truth through the mode and channel of true friendship.
We’re told three things in this passage about transforming friendships: 1) a friend has a vision for who God is making you, 2) a friend has a vision for Christ being formed in you, and 3) a friend is willing to go into labor pains for it all.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 8, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 4:21-31.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

If you want to be an agent of reconciliation and change and healing in the lives of others, Paul says something that applies to us all.
Paul says the essence of his ministry was this: “become like me, for I became like you.” There are two sides to that sentence. Only by the power of God can you do both. But if you can do both, you can change people’s lives.
Here’s what you need: 1) you need ministers, 2) you need the kind of ministers who understand the gospel, and 3) you need ministers who labor until Christ is formed in you.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 1, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 4:12-20.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

This is a startling passage. The context is that the Galatians, who became Christians out of pagan backgrounds, are now falling under the influence of teachers who say, “It’s not enough just to believe in Jesus Christ. You also have to obey everything in the Bible.”
Paul says something here which is astounding. He says that if they do that, they will fall back under what he calls the slavery of the non-gods.
So we ask ourselves three questions: 1) what are the non-gods? 2) how do they enslave? and 3) how can we be free?
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 22, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 4:8-20.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

On Today's episode of Gospel in Life, we're previewing the first episode of our new standalone limited podcast series: Cultivating a Healthy Marriage with Tim Keller.
Cultivating a Healthy Marriage with Tim Keller is a short podcast series featuring the messages from the most popular sermon series of Dr. Keller’s time at Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Preached in 1991, this series was the basis for the bestselling book by Tim and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage. Whether you’re single, married, widowed, or divorced, through this podcast you’ll learn new ways to apply God’s wisdom about marriage to your life.
To listen and subscribe, visit https://marriage.gospelinlife.com or search for Cultivating a Healthy Marriage wherever you listen to podcasts.

As a new Christian, I thought of salvation as taking things off of me: that my sins were taken off. But at the very same moment, there’s another part of that legal transaction: something is put on me. I’m adopted as God’s own son.
Galatians tells us that because we’re legally adopted, we have an agent—it’s the Spirit. The Spirit is sent not into the world but into our hearts. And the Spirit comes to give not the objective status, which we already have, but the subjective experience of sonship.
Let’s break it into three things: 1) what is promised, 2) what it’s like, and 3) how it comes.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 8, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 3:26-4:7.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The gospel insists on putting two things together that no other religion tries to put together, that all other human categories of thought insist is impossible.
How is it possible to have both law and grace in your life? It’s a striking apparent contradiction. In fact, if it doesn’t create some tension in you, you’ll never experience the glorious release Christianity can give.
I’d like to pose the central question Paul asks in Galatians 3: is the law opposed to grace? I’d like to show you 1) the significance of the question and 2) the significance of the answer.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 25, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 3:19–29.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

I don’t think there’s any competition on this: the cross is the single most visible and recognizable symbol in human history. It’s everywhere. But what does it mean?
Before Christ came, the cross was a gallows, a firing squad, a guillotine. All the cross meant was that you’d lost. It was not a symbol of strength—it was a symbol of weakness.
Galatians 3 is perhaps the most complete picture on the meaning of the cross. Let’s look at 1) why the cross is necessary, 2) what actually happened on the cross, and 3) how the cross makes us different.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on January 18, 1998. Series: Galatians: New Freedom, New Family. Scripture: Galatians 3:10-14.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Whenever we listen or read about marriage we bring our own filters. We have filters based on our experiences and cultures.
So before we pick at this passage in Ephesians 5, let’s stand back and consider that the passage presents a view of marriage that may be challenging to our very filters. Because the biblical model of marriage is neither optimistic nor pessimistic about human nature, and it’s neither traditional nor modern.
Let’s look at it. The model of marriage in this passage has three things to it: 1) a power, 2) a purpose, and 3) a pointer. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 16, 1998. Series: Ephesians – God’s New Society. Scripture: Ephesians 5:21-33.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When we think of temptation, we tend to almost immediately think of physical kinds of sins. But there are a lot of other temptations. There’s temptation to pride, to despair, to dishonesty.
Anything, whether it’s good or not, can become addicting—it becomes your master. That’s what temptation is about. Temptation is about something which may be good or may be bad, but it becomes your master, and therefore, it’s bad.
Let’s look at 1) temptation and the devil, 2) the way of attack, and 3) the way of defense.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 22, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: Genesis 3:1-7; 39:6-12.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When Jesus Christ came into the life of the demon-possessed man in Mark 5, it says the man sat at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind. That’s the result of Jesus’ resurrection power: self-control.
All of us who look fairly polished on the outside realize, in many cases, our spirits are completely out of control. We look pretty well-manicured, but on the inside, we desperately need to have Christ’s power come into our lives so we can sit as his feet, clothed, and in our right minds.
Let’s look at 1) the problem of self-control, 2) the counterfeit solution, and 3) the real self-control.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 15, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: Ephesians 2:1–3; Luke 11:14–26; 1 Corinthians 9:23–27.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

We all have a problem with self-control, right? You can probably think of some emotion or some habit you have trouble controlling. And if you can’t think of anything that’s out of control, your pride is out of control.
The fruit of the Spirit is a singular word, which means it’s like a diamond with many facets. That’s very important. Because you can manufacture a kind of self-control that is nothing more than willpower, that has nothing to do with love or joy or peace. And that’s not self-control.
Let’s look at 1) what self-control is, 2) what self-control is not, and 3) how to get self-control.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 8, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: Galatians 5:19-26.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Goodness and faithfulness are greatly interrelated. They both have to do with integrity, with living honestly.
The word integrity is related to integer—a whole number as opposed to a fraction. A person of integrity lives in a unified, not a fractured, way. But today we live in a fragmented world, in which one area of life has one set of values and another area has another set. What does it mean to have a truth-centered life?
Let’s look at 1) what the Bible teaches about truth, and then 2) what the Bible teaches about getting the truth into your life, about becoming a person of goodness and faithfulness.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 25, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 John 1:5-2:8.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

The Bible says one of the marks of a real Christian is that your love finds expression in deeds of kindness—especially toward those with material, physical, and economic problems.
Kindness is loving deeds, doing something for someone out of love. And in a number of places, the Bible says a real Christian will care for the poor. It’s the Christian’s social concern, social responsibility.
Let’s look at 1) the definition of kindness 2) the opposite of kindness 3) the counterfeit of kindness, and 4) how we cultivate kindness in our lives.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 11, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 John 3:16-20.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is patience, it’s saying a Christian is somebody who at last knows how to deal with anger.
You know, anger is a scary thing. Almost all murders and wars start with anger. It’s a tremendously dangerous emotion. And this ability to deal with anger, to really release and remove it, to pray for enemies, to forgive people, to pray for oppressors, to repay evil with good is an essential sign of Christianity.
Ephesians 4 shows us three things about anger: 1) anger in itself is not a sin, 2) anger usually is a sin, and 3) your motives are always impure.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on March 4, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: 1 John 3:11-20, Ephesians 4:26-32.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

When we talk about the fruit of the Spirit, love and joy seem like they’re in a higher league than patience. We think, “everybody gets impatient!” 
But in James 5, it says impatience and grumbling is worthy of judgment. You may say, “Why?” But what do you think murder is? It’s just grumbles that were planted and watered and fertilized. Impatience is at the root of things. 
Let’s look at 1) the danger of impatience 2) what patience is, 3) what patience is not, 4) the counterfeit of patience, and 5) how you develop a patient heart.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 25, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: James 5:7-16.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

A lot of Christians are cast down, losing their peace and joy because they don’t expect attacks on their peace and joy. We’re sad that we’re sad. We’re upset that we’re upset. We say, “it’s not supposed to be like this!” because we don’t have the proper expectations. 
Before you became a Christian, your main enemy in life was God: someone who loved you, who was doing everything he could to wake you up. But the minute you make peace with God, instantly, all of God’s enemies declare war on you—and they’re not nice enemies. 
We’re going to look at 1) what the Bible says about peace and joy, 2) our three enemies, and 3) the attacks on assurance. 
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 18, 1990. Series: Fruit of the Spirit. Scripture: Philippians 4:4-9.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.